國小英語教學語言行為研究：教科書分析與教師認知調查

Speech Acts in Elementary School English Instruction: Textbook Analysis and Teacher Perceptions

Language learning involves not only acquiring the linguistic forms and structures but understanding how language is used appropriately in different socio-cultural contexts. It is believed teaching of speech acts can help foreign language learners enhance their competence in language use and enable them to communicate with native speakers successfully (Hymes, 1974; Searle, 1969; Wolfson, 1989; Yu, 1999). In the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context, English textbooks play an important role for those students who receive their language inputs primarily from textbooks (Kim & Hall, 2002). Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the appropriateness of speech act presentation in the elementary English textbooks with respect to English language instruction in Taiwan. Two adjacency pairs of speech acts (compliments/compliment responses and requests/request responses) in seven series of elementary English textbooks were scrutinized to see whether adequate information regarding these two speech act pairs was properly delineated. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore elementary school English teachers' awareness of cultural-specificity in language use. The findings show that compliments, compliment responses, requests and request responses were not adequately presented in the elementary school English textbooks. The speech act presentation in the textbook did not mirror precisely the native English speakers' interaction norms and seemed to inaccurately represent the actual language use. Results from teacher interviews indicate that English teachers did not seem to equip themselves with sufficient and adequate knowledge of cultural-specificity in language use, which may be adverse for language learners. These findings suggest that textbook designers properly integrate speech acts into elementary school English instruction, and teachers further develop professional knowledge in pragmatics to facilitate their English teaching to elementary school children.語言學習不只包括習得語言的格式與架構，還包括了解如何在不同的場合中適當地使用語言與他人溝通。教導外語學習者語言行為，可增進其適當使用語言的能力，並成功無礙地與外國人溝通（Searle，1969；Hymes，1974；Woflson，1989；Yu，1999）。教科書在英文學習中扮演重要角色，對主要透過教科書獲得英語語言知識的外語學習者而言尤是如此（Kim&Hall，2002）。因此，本研究檢視語言行為在國小英語教科書中的呈現；針對七套現行的國小英語課本，檢視讚美/讚美回應與請求／請求回應兩組語言行為。此外，研究者也採用半結構式訪談來深入了解國小英文老師對於國小英語語用教學的看法。研究結果發現讚美／讚美回應與要求／要求回應兩組語言行為在國小英語課本中的呈現並不適切；而可用來幫助了解不同場合中語言行為隱意的情境知訊，在國小英語教科書中也未見重視。再者，研究發現國小英文老師跨文化語用語與語言行為方面的認知明顯不足，這將對學生的英語學習成效有所影響。因此，本研究建議英語教科書的編者將語言行為適當地整合於英語教學中，並建議英語老師在語用知識方面有進一步的習得，以助益國小英語的教導與學習。